


Contrary to Popular Belief, I Know Exactly What I'm Doing

by OceanSpray5



Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe, Stranger Things (TV 2016)
Genre: F/M, Gen, Hopper is the Wheelers Bodyguard Babysitter, Iron Man!Mike Wheeler, Martin Brenner and the DOE are Hydra, Pepper Potts!El Hopper, Scarlet Witch!El Hopper, Sort of like Jarvis but not, marvel AU
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-03-08
Updated: 2020-03-08
Packaged: 2021-03-01 02:02:34
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,482
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23067445
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/OceanSpray5/pseuds/OceanSpray5
Summary: For a moment Mike is confused. The last thing he expected was to find another child on his family’s estate. Sure, there are no boundaries but its not easy for just anyone to get here or anyone to even want to. Another loud crash rattles the skies and the girl flinches terribly, a whimper escaping her barely audible over the sound of the heavy rain.Mike can’t help but worry so he does the only thing that makes sense to him: He covers her in his jacket, and leads her home.or, the Mike Wheeler as Tony Stark/Iron Man AU no one asked for in which Hopper is Jarvis and El is a mix of Pepper Potts and Scarlet Witch.
Relationships: Eleven | Jane Hopper & Jim "Chief" Hopper, Eleven | Jane Hopper/Mike Wheeler
Comments: 11
Kudos: 25





	Contrary to Popular Belief, I Know Exactly What I'm Doing

**Author's Note:**

> What started out as a headcanon session built off of another headcanon session (for which I will write another fic soon) in the twitter Mileven gc with ProfessorEl11 ended up in this fic.  
> The title is an Iron Man quote and I feel like nothing describes Mike as well as that quote both ironically and unironically.

Mike Wheeler was heading home from school when he ran into her. It was slightly windy but he had his jacket on so he didn’t mind. School just let out and his parents were away on another business trip. Hopper was supposed to pick him up but Mike had asked to walk home instead. It was barely autumn and the risk of getting sick was still low.

Without warning the angry grey clouds gave way to furious black ones. At once the world was enshrouded in darkness and suddenly Mike regretted not taking up his bodyguard’s offer for a ride. An ominous crash from the heavens threatening downpour had him running, deciding to take a few shortcuts to get back to his house before he got caught in the storm. His detour led him through the small wooded area behind his house. It was darker but the trees offered some protection from the cloudburst. He stopped only for a moment to get his flashlight out of his bag, realizing it would be better to see ahead of him instead of tripping and falling on his face or breaking his leg.

When he’s halfway home he hears rustling ahead of him and stops. This is unusual because these woods are part of the Wheeler estate. They’re private property so rarely does anyone attempt to trespass unless they are trying to (unsuccessfully) rob his family. Mike stops in his tracks as the rustling gets closer and suddenly a girl is in front of him, cowering under the glare of his flashlight. She’s not much older than himself, her hair buzzed short which almost leads him to mistaking her for a boy. A worn-out t-shirt that’s too big for her is all she’s wearing. Her feet are covered in tattered shoes too big for her. Her face is dirty and she looks scared.

For a moment Mike is confused. The last thing he expected was to find a child on his family’s estate. Sure, there are no boundaries but its not easy for just anyone to get here or anyone to even want to. Another loud crash rattles the skies and the girl flinches terribly, a whimper escaping her barely audible over the sound of the heavy rain.

Mike can’t help but worry so he does the only thing that makes sense to him: He covers her in his jacket, and leads her home.

* * *

Sneaking her in is ridiculously easy. Hopper’s gone to pick up Holly and Nancy is over at her boyfriend Steve’s house. No one checks the security cameras unless there’s a need for it but Mike sneaks El in through his secret basement entrance anyway. He’s the only one with access to those cameras since no one even knows the Wheeler’s had a secret passageway built for their fantasy obsessed middle child.

He gives the girl some of his dry clothes before asking her name. She points to a tattoo and then herself. Eleven. He offers to call her El, short for Eleven and tells her he’s Mike, short for Michael. She agrees. She refuses to answer any further questions about herself though, so Mike gives the girl a tour of the basement. He has to leave her when Hopper comes home but after dinner he comes back down with some food. He sits quietly and does his homework while she fiddles with a few of his old toys.

It’s only when Mike sees her falling asleep on the old armchair that he realizes El needs a place to sleep. Twenty minutes later he has a blanket fort ready under one of the corner tables complete with an old mattress and fluffy blankets from the linen closet. Mike gently shakes the girl awake, surprised by the way she jumps and her eyes widen in panic.

“It’s ok, El,” he says softly, not wanting to startle her more. “Look, I made you a fort to sleep in. Hopper comes down here sometimes when he needs to get something. He shouldn’t need to come down here today but just in case I made you a fort to hide in. I thought it would be cozier for you.”

El looks at him and nods. Once she’s properly snuggled in, she turns to him and says a quiet, “Thank you Mike.” Mike only nods gently before lowering the fort’s sheet.

It’s only later when he’s falling asleep himself that he questions why he didn’t consider telling Hopper at all.

The next day is a Friday so he poses the question after breakfast. El had quickly gobbled up the plate of Eggos he’d snuck from the kitchen to her before school.

El stoutly refuses to meet with any adults. Her behavior was concerning to Mike who didn’t know what else he could do, but it quickly became evident she was scared which was why she didn’t want any adults involved. When she mentioned bad men were after her and mimed shooting with a gun was when Mike gulped and decided to let the subject drop. Technically Hopper was his bodyguard, it was his job to protect Mike and Mike’s friends when they were over. But El felt safer without any adults so Mike agreed to stay silent for now.

El also didn’t seem thrilled about Mike leaving her alone to go to school so, for the first time in his life, Mike played hooky and skipped school. The Wheeler estate was large enough that Hopper would never know or expect Mike to have snuck back in but luckily it was errand day and Hop was busy getting the groceries after dropping Holly off to school. Normally that would have been the Butler’s job but he had called in sick earlier in the week and the timing turned out to be very convenient for Mike who ended up giving El the house tour.

El took in the large mansion with wonderous eyes. She kept stopping to take a look at the family pictures that littered the walls and mantles and the cozy interior of each of the rooms. Some rooms looked more welcoming than others but El’s eyes hungrily took in everything Mike showed her with a longing he’d never seen before.

He finally decided to take her to the lab, leaving the best for last. It was his favorite portion of the house after all. Mike had had two of the upstairs rooms renovated into a personal laboratory to tinker with. He’d been hailed a child prodigy early on, not that Ted Wheeler cared. His only concern was that Mike was horrible at running a business and neither Nancy or Holly showed any prowess or interest in that area either.

Karen Wheeler, however, was ecstatic. She immediately gave into Mike’s request to convert the rooms next to his bedroom into a large lab workspace for him to play around with. The construction workers came less than a week later, tore down a few walls and the interior of the rooms were converted from unused sitting rooms into a white and beige toned lab.

Mike wasn’t quite expecting the reaction he got from El upon mentioning this to her though.

“Come on El, I want to show you my lab.”

The next instant El was almost hyperventilating, her eyes filling with tears and darting around as if looking for an escape. She started shivering and would have probably run away if Mike hadn’t grabbed on to her and given her a tight hug till her panic attack subsided.

“It’s ok, El.” He whispered again and again. He didn’t know why she was suddenly shuddering with sobs but he rubbed her back. When she finally stopped crying, he held her hand and gently pulled her into the room from the hallway, still confused by the misery on her face.

“This is my lab,” Mike said to her nervously gesturing around the room. “It’s where I invent stuff when I feel like it. None of my stuff is too advanced though. It’s mostly me tinkering.”

El cautiously looked around for a few moments, her eyes untrusting. Mike was lost as to what he had done that made her look at him in this way. Finally, she spoke.

“No bath?” she asked suspiciously.

Mike was confused.

“Um… no? Do you want to take one?” Mike asked. “The lab doesn’t have a bathroom but I can show you to one in the guest rooms?”

El looked skeptical and pensive as if evaluating him. “No bath. Good.”

Her response did nothing to alleviate Mike’s confusion but he decided to take it in a stride and show her around his workspace instead. He led her around the lab, showing her his inventions. El was enthralled, never having seen anything like them before. It was only when Mike suggested El stay in the lab when she started to panic again. He rushed to reassure her.

“You don’t have to if you don’t want to. Its just… Hopper never comes in here. I told him not to so he doesn’t bother unless I’m in here for too long. It would be safer for you here than in the basement.”

El looked apprehensive, looking around the lab once more to make sure there were no bath tanks before finally nodding.

“Fort?” she asked.

Mike nodded at once.

“Of course. We can move the fort up here. And my room’s right across the hall so you’ll be closer to me too in case you wanna talk.”

So that’s how they managed to move El’s fort up to Mike’s lab, mattress and all. El still looked uneasy by the whole ordeal but Mike assured her she could come to his room if she felt scared and if she preferred the basement, they could move her things back. El seemed to consider it but deciding she’d rather be closer to Mike, decided to settle into her new fort.

* * *

A week passed with El hiding out in Mike’s lab. Mike would come home from school to find El either in his room or in her blanket fort in the lab. It was only after a close call of Hopper discovering her that led to El opening up about her past.

Mike had been working late after a burst of motivation and Hopper had almost burst in to send him to bed. After quickly urging El into the closet before she could be found, promising to get her out in five minutes, Mike smoothly lied to Hopper about cleaning up his tools and then going to bed. Luckily Hopper managed to miss the blanket fort hidden behind a few of the lab counters. When Mike opened up the closet to find El crying, that’s when the dam burst. She sobbed for a few minutes before finally telling him.

“Bad men. They said I was bad. Put me in the dark room.” Her sentence was broken but it was enough for Mike to understand. He spent the next half hour comforting her and, for the first time, offered she sleep in his room with him. He knew it was against the rules and his mother would have an aneurism but El was upset and its not like his mom was ever home to find out. So, he let her sleep on his bed while he took the floor.

El had never slept better.

* * *

Over the next few weeks El and Mike grew closer. When he would come home from school, she would quickly hug him, his warmth a comfort after a long day by herself. When he would do his homework, she’d sit next to him, sometimes falling asleep at the table or on his shoulder when they were sitting on the bed.

At times he’d work on his inventions and Mike would narrate his process to El as she looked on in fascination. Most of the time he tinkered with stuff he knew would interest her. He had shown her his mini camera drone and when he saw how enthralled she was when he programmed some fairy lights to blink on command, he was instantly fitting them in her fort and showing her how to control them so she could do them herself. The wonder in her eyes and bright smile was always worth it. Sometimes she’d play around with his tools too but Mike never minded. His tools were precious and he disliked it if anyone touched them, but El was different.

It was one of these days working in the lab. El had taken to sitting in her fort instead of tinkering with him today. Mike felt his gaze keep wandering back to El who was halfheartedly playing with one of his inventions. Mike’s brow furrowed though, noticing El kept staring distractedly at her tattoo.

Mike continued to observe El. It was a recurring thing, he noticed after a few days. She repeatedly ran her hand over her tattoo. Mike even noticed that sometimes she ended up staring at Mike’s hands only this time, instead of focusing on what he was making, her focus was on his wrists. Skin soft and white, unmarred with any synthetic scars and ink.

El slowly started to tell him bits and pieces of her past too. It was when she finally said “Hail Hydra”, her eyes wide with fear as she tried to tell him who had hurt her, and an incident where he realized that the girl he was harboring was a _secret superhero with telekinetic powers_ , did Mike finally start to put the pieces together. It didn’t take him long to look up the organization and hack into government files to get the full picture.

Experiment 11. Part of a covert super soldier program led by Hawkins Department of Energy. The details of the reports on some of the experiments–no, _people_ –made Mike sick. He cried when he realized the atrocities the girl he had taken in on a whim, who had become so beloved to him so quickly, had gone through. He finally understood why she was so freaked out when he had offered to take her to his lab. She had thought he was going to do the same to her as those vile scientists did. The thought made Mike sick to his stomach.

It took him only 20 minutes but he managed to erase all data from the lower security government database he had hacked into, copying the files to his own computer instead, in case they were needed at a later date.

It took a few weeks, sleepless nights and nearly pulling out all his hair before he could hack into the better guarded databases and erase all other files and backup files. It took extra time but he also timed the servers to crash for extra measure. Both, as an extra precaution to cover his tracks but more so as a big fuck you to the man, Martin Brenner, who had made his El’s life miserable.

The look on El’s face when he promised her the bad men couldn’t find her and explained what he did was worth every agonizing second. He also brought her numerous paints and colors and craft supplies that he could find in the storage closet, using his allowance to buy the things he couldn’t find and brought them to El. Her face was curious as Mike explained them to her.

“It’s so you can decorate the lab with. I-um… I know this place reminds you too much of the Hawkins Lab. I thought you could color and paint and make whatever you want and we can hang it up. If you wanna stay in my room again if you don’t like it here then that’s ok too.” Mike continued to ramble. “I could sleep in the guest bedroom, or I could try and hide you in the guest bedroom.”

“Mike,” El said softly, a smile on her face. “This is good.”

But Mike’s surprise for El wasn’t done yet. He set to work on a new invention but refused to tell her what it was. A few days later he presented a small white cloth band to her. She stared at him confused when he told her this was his new invention.

“It’s made of a special micro-fiber I invented,” Mike told her excitedly. “To cover your tattoo with.”

Mike helped her put it on and the young girl watched entranced as the band around her skin changed color to the shade of her skin, disappearing completely.

El gaped.

She bent her wrist multiple times, holding her hand up in the light and then hiding it in the shadow but the cloth on her wrist was unnoticeable and neither did she feel as if she was wearing anything on her skin.

“Do you like it?” Mike asked suddenly nervous. “I noticed you didn’t like your tattoo. I didn’t know how to remove it and those laser removals hurt anyway. So, I made this for you. You can take it off whenever you want but when you’re wearing it you won’t even notice its there. It’s like real skin cuz the sensors in the band detect your skin’s composition and try to replicate the textu-”

Mike was cut off, letting a sudden “oof” as he found himself with an armful of girl. His cheeks turned warm and pink, his heart beating fast in his chest as he smiled and held her close.

“Thank you, Mike.”

* * *

Mike had kept El so well hidden for almost two months that it was a surprise when Hopper first discovered her. The Wheeler children’s bodyguard had come into the lab unexpectedly one day to make sure all of the security measures were in working order.

Hopper had been confused by the brightly colored paintings and crude drawings stuck to the walls, knowing Mike had never been too artistically inclined.

He did not, however, expect to come across a blanket fort strategically hidden behind one of the counters and even less, a girl with cropped hair hiding in it; the coloring pencils in her hand identifying her to be the source of the numerous drawings on Mike’s walls. 

Upon seeing him the girl visibly panicked and Hopper held up his hands as a peace greeting. He had been a top city cop before accepting the job as the Wheeler’s bodyguard and could recognize an abused, skittish child when he saw one. He left the lab and instead came back ten minutes later with a plate of pancakes and a glass of juice leftover from breakfast.

El was mistrustful but she had seen Hopper on the security feed Mike had shown her and she knew he trusted the man. She eagerly accepted the peace offering and was glad when he left without asking any questions. In a few moments she had relaxed entirely and had gone back to her drawings.

Hopper, though, needed a can of beer. This was certainly not the first time Mike Wheeler had given him grey hairs by doing something ridiculous but hiding a fugitive child was definitely the most extreme actions the impulsive boy had ever accomplished. Hopper couldn’t pass up the opportunity to mess with the kid though so when Mike came home, Hopper was the picture of innocence.

“Say Mike,” the gruff man asked, acting like he was writing down the grocery list on a pad of paper, “what are you working on in that lab of yours these days.”

Mike shrugged nonchalantly, not at all suspicious. Hopper was more of a parent than Ted and Karen were, always asking after Nancy, Holly and Mike’s interests.

“I’ve been trying to figure out a way to modify the 3D printer into working a little faster. Haven’t worked on a lot else.”

Hopper stopped writing and nodded seriously as if deeply contemplating Mike’s issue. “And I suppose in one of your test runs you managed to 3D print yourself a companion to keep you company in your lab too?”

Hopper immensely enjoyed the way Mike’s face transitioned from confusion to ashen.

“I-I- I can explain!” Mike rushed to say.

“You better, kid or else there’s gonna be hell to pay.”

So Mike explained, launching into the story of how he found El lost in the woods running away from her bad living situation. He left out the parts about Hydra, her telekinetic abilities and her being an experiment, deciding that would be El’s story to tell. 

After his story was complete, he quickly rushed upstairs to find El, leaving Hopper to mull over the happenings going on under his very nose for more than a month. He would have cracked open another can of bear at realizing _just how long_ this ordeal had been going on except it was daylight and the kids needed him.

Mike brought El back down with him and the girl introduced herself to Hopper officially. Hopper quickly decided the lab was no proper living arrangement and deciding to put the girl in the guest bedroom next to Mike’s for now. He wondered how wise that decision was, noticing the mooning looks both teens were giving each other, his eyebrows raising at how tightly they were holding hands, but the moment he suggested a room further away from Mike he knew he was losing this battle. For one, Mike was a little shit but Hopper had a soft spot for all the Wheeler kids, and two, El looked positively terrified about being moved to a different floor from Mike.

It was another week before he suggested finding El a place to stay, having received notice that the Wheeler parents were heading home from their overseas trip in a few more weeks, knowing they would be less than pleased to find a complete stranger their son found living in their home. So far, Nancy and Holly still didn’t know there was an extra resident in their house, El preferring to keep to her room and sneak out with Mike to get food only when no one else was in the kitchen. It was only when he suggested finding El another home that he was brought into the loop of the real story and had to down another couple of drinks while figuring out another solution that wouldn’t end up with El back in the clutches of a corrupt government scheme.

Finally, a conclusion was reached. Hopper sat both the kids down for a meeting and observed them. Mike had his defiant face on as he held on tightly to El’s hand, daring him to try and kick her out.

“I promised El she would stay with me and she will,” Mike burst out before Hop could get a word out. He seemed to be threatening to run away with El with just his eyes and Hopper sighed. This wasn’t the first time he had seen that stubborn face and it wouldn’t be the last.

“Kid, calm down. I’m not sending El away or contacting any authorities. Relax for a second will you.”

Mike’s scowl subsided but he was still frowning, face guarded.

“Look, your parents aren’t going to be happy but I understand this isn’t a normal situation. So, I can only suggest one plan if we want to keep El’s identity under wraps. Capice?”

“What plan?” El asked softly. She looked scared despite Mike gently rubbing her hand to comfort her. Hopper’s face softened.

“I can say I’m looking into adopting you, kid,” he told El gently. “I live here so if I were to adopt someone, they’d stay with me too.”

“What is adopt?” El asked Mike. Hopper stayed quiet, knowing the girl trusted the Wheeler kid more than him. Wheeler, in turn, was still in shock to what Hopper was offering but quickly snapped out of his reverie when El turned to him.

“Adopt means he’ll take care of you. He’ll be your dad and you’ll be his daughter.” Mike said gently. Hopper was still in shock at how quickly the rough-around-the-edges middle child of the Wheeler family turned into a ball of absolute fluff when it came to El.

El didn’t like the answer Mike gave though, her eyes turning scared.

“Like Papa?” she whispered horrified.

Mike looked alarmed.

“No, no! Not at all like Brenner. That man wasn’t your papa El! He hurt you. But he won’t find you ever again. And Hop won’t hurt you. He’s nice. And besides you won’t be his real daughter, its just to tell my parents so they’ll let you stay.”

Hopper had the urge to protest the “real daughter” part but seeing how El relaxed he decided it was something that could be revisited later.

El was satisfied. She looked Hopper in the eye as she nodded.

“Ok,” she said quietly but firmly. “You can… adopt me.”

Hopper nodded to her as well before turning to Mike.

“Wheeler, your parents aren’t going to be happy I did this behind their back. They would have expected at least a heads up but you leave it to me. The story for now is that it’s the trial run of the adoption so El is staying with us and it’ll be finalized in a few weeks. I’m gonna need you to tell your Mom the same cover story I come up with and try to convince her to let me keep El okay.”

Hopper couldn’t help but grin at the determined set of Mike’s jaw. The kid looked like he was readying himself for war but he was also relieved. Mike was a good kid and would more than likely convince his mother, who in turn would convince his father, that Hopper’s sudden decision hadn’t disrupted the Wheeler lifestyle in the slightest and it was safe to continue as they were.

* * *

Holly and Nancy were introduced to El two weeks before their parents came home, the cover story sold to them neatly. It helped that Holly was barely four and Nancy didn’t care much, too immersed in her own life to care. Mike made a big show of befriending El in front of his sisters, getting the girl to giggle in the process with his ridiculous antics. Mike was positively beaming at getting El to laugh and Hopper internally groaned. He knew Karen Wheeler would be concerned about her son’s very obvious crush living in the same house as him.

Luckily, Holly took to El quickly. The younger girl absolutely adored El and El felt the same way. It wasn’t long before the telekinetic was sitting down and coloring with Holly and reading nursery rhymes with her. Nancy gave El kind smiles but didn’t interact with her for the most part. She offered El a hug when the younger girl saw her getting ready for a date with Steve and El had let out a longing sigh of, “Pretty.”

Nancy left but not before promising she’d teach El how to do her makeup later and even offering up some of her old clothes when Hopper told her that El had very little belongings to bring from the ‘orphanage’ she had been adopted from.

As expected, Karen and Ted Wheeler were more than a little blindsided but Ted became indifferent quickly enough and Karen got over her shock after giving Hopper a minor talking to for not even informing them by email that he was looking into adopting a girl. Karen quickly became sympathetic though, remembering Hopper’s deceased daughter Sarah, and understanding his desire for a daughter to care for again.

While it wasn’t his intention, Hopper agreed to Karen’s mistaken logic, despite it unearthing unpleasant memories. He would be lying if he said he didn’t consider El as a second chance.

Eventually everything settled down, El adjusting quickly into a new lifestyle where everyone in the house knew of her existence. A year later, Hopper enrolled El in the same school as Mike, his hefty salary and savings more than enough to get the girl in the same prestigious school the Wheeler children attended.

A month after that Hopper, unsurprisingly, found Mike and El making out in the basement. The two teens had been teetering on the edge of friend to friendlier for a while now and Hopper knew he had clued into the relationship a few months too late with how comfortable the two were in their relationship. Then again, Mike and El had always had a very deep connection so their relationship had almost always been more mature than most people’s even as friends.

Hopper did, however, have to enforce some ground rules which he knew both teens were less than pleased with but were necessary. The gruff man considered El his real daughter, even having forged a proper birth certificate by calling up one of his old friends, Owens, and luckily El seemed to think of her as a father too.

It had been a normal Sunday; the Wheeler parents were on another business trip and the Wheeler children were all still asleep. El had woken up and come into the kitchen to see Hopper drinking his morning cup of black coffee. He had offered her a sip, seeing her curious gaze, and had guffawed when she made a face then went to get herself some juice.

She had sat across from him for a few moments quietly before looking up and directly meeting his eyes.

“Real dad,” she had said simply before turning to flip some magazines that were on the kitchen counter.

Hopper had to take a moment, blinking the tears out of his eyes before reaching over to ruffle the kid’s curly cloud of hair while she laughed and ducked away.

“Good,” he had said. “Real daughter.”

* * *

Four years passed by with little consequence.

There was a time period in which El had gone to find her parents. The files a young Mike had copied before destroying finally coming in handy. They had remained unopen until El decided she wanted to find her real family if they were alive.

Her search led her to a little town in Indiana. Becky Ives had been shocked to see El, sure her sister had gone insane before her mind had slipped. Terry Ives was alive, but barely lucid, trapped in an eternal cycle of bad memories. El cried while she introduced her mother to Mike and told the story of her escape and how she was alive, all the while begging her to get free of the mental hell she was trapped in. Terry only stopped for a moment to whisper her real name, Jane, before she was lost again.

El cried even harder when she saw her father’s pictures. Andrew Rich had gone missing in Vietnam, assumed dead, all because Brenner had required Terry to be isolated to steal Jane. She had left Becky’s house that evening in shock and pain. Her heart aching for a life she never lived, for parents she never got to grow up with and their love she never got a chance to feel.

Mike had held her while she cried the next few days, processing the information, trying to sort out her feelings. Her pain, her anger, her despair. Finally, El decided she would help her mother break the cycle of bad memories. If she couldn’t heal her mother, she vowed she’d at least help her change the memories her mother was reliving into better ones. The ones with her family, her sister and with Andrew.

When life once again adjusted to the changes, it changed again, the biggest shock coming when the Wheelers were killed in a sudden car crash. It was horrible. Holly cried for days. Mike shut himself in his lab, refusing to speak to anyone and Nancy didn’t come home for three days.

There were whispers of foul play. The Wheelers had been assassinated on their way to the airport. Hopper investigated but made sure to keep the Wheeler kids and El out of it. He was sure they were looking into the rumors themselves too, nosy as they were, but he didn’t want to bring up the topic and make them even more miserable than they already were.

When the question of inheritance came up, the main Wheeler fortune had been split three ways instantly making Nancy, Mike and Holly some of the youngest millionaires on the planet. A smaller fortune was also left in Hopper and El’s name, Karen begging in her will that her old friend wouldn’t abandon her children.

The biggest question though, was who would take over Wheeler Industries. Ted Wheeler’s massive weaponry empire was not something any of the three children were interested in. Nancy was studying Journalism; Mike was interested in inventing and Holly was showing her affinity for fashion designing instead of business.

Nancy was the only one legally allowed to run the company but she refused. Mike was a few months shy of turning 18 but he was already going to MIT for his Masters and PhD degrees, having completed his undergrad early. El was planning on going with him after graduating high school, planning on getting her degree in History from a university near Mike’s. Holly was too young to even be considered taking over.

For a few years the Wheeler enterprise was run by its board of directors until finally, Mike was given the responsibility to manage it. Barely 21 years old, he was forced into business meetings and pushed around by his father’s old employees until he snapped.

He broke down to El one day, crying in her arms about how vehemently he hated it but how he was expected to uphold his father’s name and business. His girlfriend just ran her fingers through his hair, a small comfort but the only one Mike needed.

“Why don’t you do what you want to with the company, Mike?” El asked one day.

Mike laughed bitterly.

“It’s my father’s company El. Everyone expects me to run it the same way. The directors are all loyal to my father. They won’t let me change a damn thing.”

“So fire them,” El said bluntly. She held Mike’s chin gently in her hand and forced him to meet her eyes. “It’s your company Mike Wheeler. Yours. Ted Wheeler is gone. Your company now. Your choice.”

Mike held El’s gaze skeptically before settling in her arms again looked contemplative. El simply went back to playing with his hair knowing it was one of the things that helped calm him down. Soon he fell asleep but El’s words continued to play in his mind for the next few weeks.

The turning point happened 3 weeks later. A kidnapping and Mike being held captive for 3 months with no clue to his location had left everyone in a frenzy. El had tried to find Mike using her mental abilities but it was clear, whoever had him knew about her and intercepted her ability to find people. The thought of Brenner having Mike and no way for her to do anything about it nearly killed El so she sobbed in relief when he finally came back to her, relatively unharmed but mentally scarred.

A super suit. That was how he had escaped. His greatest invention to date.

For weeks afterwards El refused to leave Mike’s side and he refused to go anywhere without her too. He had seen horrors in his time captive by Hydra. He had met Martin Brenner who had tried to torture information out of Mike while simultaneously demanding he invent them a weapon that was meant to tear into a separate dimension. No other country in the world had that kind of technology yet and only Mike was smart enough to create it.

“Retribution”, Brenner had called it. For taking El–their only psychokinetic who had been making progress in this area–destroying her files and making her and their progress non-existent. Mike had been given a few months, periodically tortured for incentive before being thrown back in his cell and workspace.

Unknown to Brenner, all the parts Mike was given went into making a super suit to escape with instead of a gateway to an alternate universe. It was a crude design, meant only to help him escape but the parts were quality and Mike had managed to escape relatively unscathed when the smallest window of opportunity had presented itself.

When Brenner tried a second kidnapping, Mike was ready for it, having made advancements on the suit that had helped him escape, and so was El. The mad scientist had his brains blown out by a hysterical El who wanted vengeance for her mother, her father, herself and Mike. Mike did a clean sweep of the remaining soldiers Brenner had brought for backup.

El collapsed in Mike’s arms, blood trickling down her nose. She sobbed in his arms before he took her home. They were safe. They were free.

In the conclusion of that event, Mike had decided to completely abolish the current Wheeler Industries. He ended up revamping the Enterprise from the ground up, naming El the CEO as soon as he could. She was surprisingly good at business, having taken it as a double major in college. Her aura was intimidating as ever and Mike knew she loved being in control of situations after having almost no control in her early life. Wheeler Industries was now a tech company and most of Mike’s best works were sent for mass production and sold at affordable costs. The only product he refused to have mass produced was his super suit.

The directors of his father’s company had told him to keep the mysterious new superhero’s identity a secret but Mike had fired them long ago. He was done with keeping secrets and being forced into roles that weren’t his.

In the first press conference he had attended after revamping his enterprise, the first question was, unsurprisingly, regarding Iron Man. It had long since been speculated that the genius Wheeler heir was behind the super suit.

“Do you have any affiliation to Iron Man?” the journalist asked. They all waited with baited breaths for his response. Mike could see his PR manager in the back urging him to lie but he looked past him at El who was smiling at him, always a steady source of strength and Hopper, always there to support him.

“The truth is,” Mike said, dropping his cue cards that his PR manager had forced in his hands to the floor. He was planning on firing the man soon anyway.

“I am Iron Man.”

The audience of media persons were in an uproar but Mike only grinned. Hopper came and escorted him out of the building, while El firmly stated he wouldn’t be answering any more questions joining him a few seconds later.

Yep, he was Iron Man: Paladin and protector, the world’s renowned superhero.

But El was his partner, his Mage, and she was _his_ superhero.

**Author's Note:**

> Please read and leave a comment as they are really encouraging. I'm open to constructive criticism and my tumblr is same as my Ao3, my twitter is @IffahAMughal.


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